Pamela A. Jordan, Defending Rights in Russia: Lawyers, the State and Legal Reform in the Post-Soviet Era. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2005. This study examines the transformation of the Russian bar (advokatura) after the collapse of the Soviet Union, focusing on how practicing lawyers and advocates redefined their professional identity and institutional role during democratic transition. …
The European Union imposed sanctions on eight Russian individuals over alleged serious human rights violations, repression of civil society and democratic opposition, and actions undermining democracy and the rule of law in Russia. Those listed include members of Russia’s judiciary (two judges), as well as a prosecutor and investigator linked to what the EU describes …
Heidi Nichols Haddad and Lisa McIntosh Sundstrom. “Foreign Agents or Agents of Justice? Private Foundations, Backlash Against Non-Governmental Organizations, and International Human Rights Litigation.” Law & Society Review, vol. 57, no. 1 (2023): 12-35. This article critically examines the claim behind Russia’s 2012 “Foreign Agents” Law that foreign funding drives NGO agendas, focusing on human …
Freek Van der Vet. “‘When They Come for You’: Legal Mobilization in New Authoritarian Russia.” Law & Society Review, vol. 52, no. 2 (2018): 301-336. This article investigates how Russian lawyers respond to escalating state repression under the country’s “new authoritarian” legal regime, marked by restrictive laws on NGOs, surveillance, and treason. Drawing on interviews, …
This article investigates how political lawyers in Russia resist emerging authoritarian practices such as disinformation, surveillance, and state secrecy.
This article investigates how political lawyers in Russia navigate and resist authoritarian tactics such as disinformation campaigns, government surveillance, and secrecy.
Lauren A. McCarthy, “Oversight of the Legal System in an Authoritarian Regime: Police and Court Monitoring in Russia.” Journal of Law and Courts, vol. 13, no. 1 (2025): 195-219. Summary: How can citizens in authoritarian regimes exercise oversight of the legal system? McCarthy examines police and court monitoring, bottom-up oversight activities popular in pre-war Russia …
In backsliding democracies, this research shows that lawyers remain key actors in the struggle for political change.
This article explores how access to justice can be expanded in an authoritarian setting like Russia through the use of citizen legal advocates (CLAs)—ordinary citizens without formal legal education who represent defendants in criminal and administrative cases.
This article examines how defense lawyers in contemporary Russia strategically use publicity in trials involving protesters, despite the broader context of a politicized and often predetermined legal system.